New York City has Donald Trump, Central Park, 42nd Street, happy hours, 24-hour-a-day nightclubs, Broadway, Gisele Bundchen and the Statue of Liberty.

I'm not even going to try and compare our icons and monuments, since Boston loses most of those head-to-head match-ups - though I'll take Jack Welch over Trump and Tom Brady over Bundchen any day.

But here's a place Boston has New York beat like a rented mule - professional sports.

It's really not even a fair fight these days.

In terms of rivalries, the Patriots vs. Giants is akin to the Red Sox vs. Orioles. It really isn't one.

Until now.

This is the Super Bowl. All of the New York media will be there, holding the back cover of the respective tabloids, looking for a mole hill to turn into a mountain.

This will become a rivalry.

The Yankees seem to have the Red Sox' number during the regular season. But recently, they and their $200 million worth of talent regularly fade like a tired thoroughbred come October.

The Red Sox have not only taken hold of the beginning of the 21st century with a pair of World Series championships in the last four seasons, but the Red Sox future is even rosier. Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro recently said the Red Sox are built to keep this up for "a decade," which is unheard of in this era of baseball.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Shapiro. "Boston is an example of what you can do with a lot of resources and very good management."

He didn't say it, but I will. The Yankees have been an unmitigated disaster with beefy contracts, big bats and little pitching. Wasn't that the old Red Sox formula that failed time and again?

How about New York's pro basketball team, the Knicks?

Embarrassing isn't a strong enough word.

They are 208-325 since the end of the 2000-01 season. Add in the sexual harassment lawsuit against head coach Isaiah Thomas (which was settled for $11.5 million) and the fact that they have guaranteed contracts of $89 million and $91 million over this and next season (Celts are at $75 million for both).

The Celtics, who were in the Knicks' ugly company for most of this new century, are now the current favorites to win a world championship. They have only lost six games this season. Heck, the Knicks lost seven straight games over the holidays.

The Celtics are not leaving the upper tier any time soon, either. They have a great mix of veterans (The new Big Three) and youth (Rajon Rondo and "Big Baby" Davis), including the front-runner for league MVP, Kevin Garnett, who is signed through the 2011-12 season.

The hockey teams don't matter; the sport is next-to-dead in both regions. New York's two entries, the Islanders and Rangers, are right there with the Bruins - on the outside looking in at the eight playoff berths.

Football is different. And this is where there is no argument.

The Giants and Jets can't be compared - ever - to these Patriots. In fact, the New York Post put an asterisk next to the Patriots in the AFC East standings for the entire season due to the controversy surrounding "SpyGate."

That is comical considering the Yankees abuse of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, which allegedly started in some circles in the late 1990s, while the Yankees were officially a dynasty.

Heck, the Sox probably would have beaten the Yankees in that epic seventh game in the 2003 American League Championship Series if admitted steroids user Jason Giambi, who hit two solo home runs in that series clinching game against Pedro Martinez, was clean.

Which brings us back to the reason we care about this Boston vs. New York, right now - the Super Bowl.

The Giants are 15-point underdogs, which pretty much feel like what all New York teams are when they face their counterparts to the north.

It isn't often - maybe never - that N.Y. Jets fans root for their neighbors in the NFC. But this might be that rare time.

In the sports world, Boston is No. 1 and New York is, at the very best, No. 2 (and we're being very generous).

You could say the Lombardi Trophy isn't the only thing up for grabs in Phoenix next weekend.

You can e-mail Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.